Jade & Steel
The timing of the release of the Oriental Adventures supplement for D&D 3e seems to have inspired a few d20 publishers to release their own Asian-themed products. Among these are Buring Shaolin by Atlas Games, and Jade Dragons and Hungry Ghosts by Green Ronin. A third product in this category is Jade & Steel, by Avalanche Press.
Unlike the other publishers in this category, Avalanche Press claims settings and adventures inspired by real world history and myth as their forte. Their other recent releases include the late Byzantine adventure The Last Days of Constantinople, and the Norse myth inspired Greenland Saga and Ragnarok.
Jade & Steel details life in a mythical version of China during the Three Kingdoms era. It includes a brief overview of the setting, rules material, and an adventure.
A First Look
Jade & Steel is a staple-bound, softcover book. The book has 48 pages and is priced at $12.95 US. This gives it an overall cost per page that is a little high for books in the same size and price range.
The cover is full color and depicts a woman with dark complexion and raven hair. She is clothed in skimpy attire and is holding a sword. In the backdrop is a rugged landscape with a single pagoda-style building in the background. This would have been a fine picture if it was on an issue of Heavy Metal magazine. Yet it seems woefully out of place on this book. The woman does not look Chinese, and nor does her garb; further, her sword appears to be of Japanese make. The picture does not well represent the book.
The interior is black and white. The art appears to be ink drawings of Chinese buildings and art objects. For the most part, the pictures appear more ornamental than illustrative to me, and they are certainly a deviation from typical RPG art.
The book has thin margins, but uses a fairly large font. Most rules material is in boxes with a thick patterned border; these text boxes seem to waste a lot of page space. Coupled with the book's high cost per page, I could not help but feel that the value for money was a little low on that basis.
Setting and Rules Material
Jade & Steel is divide into three sections. The first is entitled Life and Times in the Three Kingdoms, and it covers the history and culture of ancient China with an eye toward the gamer. It covers such things as the prevailing geopolitical situation (and a little history behind it), the concepts associated with Chinese mysticism, and prevailing philosophies and modes of thought in China. It only spends six pages on this material, so it feels somewhat inadequate. GMs running a full blown campaign in this setting would do well to engage in a little of their own research as well.
There is a little rules material in this first section. Of the major religious divisions described - Animism, Buddhism, and Taoism - each is provided with a brief description of how to represent divine spellcasters using the basic d20 rules.
The bulk of the rules material is actually in Part II, entitled Characters. The basics of character generation are covered very briefly, giving just a recommendation that characters should probably be human and made specifically for the game, and a sidebar details the roles that female adventurers could logically play in the setting. Presumably, the author may have assumed that many or most GMs using the setting will be using Oriental Adventures for the more basic assumptions of an Asian campaign. The bulk of the rules material is in the form of new prestige classes, feats, and weapons appropriate to the Jade & Steel setting.
There are six new prestige classes introduced in the book. They are:
- Alchemist: A prestige class for spellcasters, this is the Chinese version of an alchemist. Most of their abilities are similar to what you would expect for an alchemist in other settings: improved alchemy and potion creation abilities. Their ultimate ability, Elixir of Life, however, allows them to brew an elixir that extends their life.
- Dim Mak Practitioner: This is a martial arts class that focuses on deadly touch attacks. They gain some monk ability, but gain improvements to their stunning blow ability that allow them to weaken or even blind foes. Their ultimate ability is the ability to strike at a distance using Ch'i alone.
- Diviner: This class is based around the Chinese mystical tradition of I Ching, a method of divination that relies on the reading of patterns made by the tossing of 6 specially marked sticks. The diviner can use a Scry skill check to make predictions. The potential effects of a reading depend on the diviner's class level.
- Geometer: The geometer is a divine spellcaster that practices the art of Feng Shui, achieving favorable results by arranging the landscape to be in harmony with the natural forces of the area. The geometer can use her abilities to endow an area with bonuses to those who reside there or to endow it with an enchantment.
- Iron Hand Disciple: The iron hand disciple is a martial artist who has undergone rigorous physical training to make his body like iron. He can shatter objects with his bare hands and gain natural AC bonuses and damage reduction.
- Sword Saint: The sword saint is a Taoist who learns to master a weapon. Sword saints have a philosophy that prevents them from using their full abilities against those whom they do not consider "worthy opponents." Their abilities are pretty impressive, though, including many monk-like abilities that they may perform with their weapon.
Overall, I found the classes fairly balanced and fairly true to the setting. The spellcasting classes have full spellcasting advancement. This is usually a trouble sign for a class, but the class abilities they receive are actually pretty modest. The combat classes are likewise very interesting and make good use of the rules. The only one I consider a little powerful is the sword saint.
In addition to this, the prestige classes make use of the intended qualities of prestige classes. Owing to the way prerequisites are structured, they fit the classes in the Oriental Adventures book as neatly as the classes in d20 System Reference Document around which they where written.
The new feats are primarily combat oriented. A few feats are focused on improving two-weapon combat a little further. The modest Leap of the Monkey feat allows the character to ignore penalties to AC when climbing.
There are many unarmed combat techniques. Grappling Finesse allows the character to use Dexterity in place of Strength when grappling. Improved Grapple lets the character make a grapple as a move-equivalent action without suffering an attack of opportunity. Sticking lets the character anticipate foes in combat by touching them; they represent this simply by providing a bonus to disarm, grapple, and trip attempts. Typhoon Attack allows the characters to strike multiple opponents in a charge. Whirlwind Kick allows the character to strike an additional target during a full attack. Finally, Willow Step allows the character to attempt a Tumble check after a charge to continue moving. Of these, I found Whirlwind Kick and Willow Step the iffiest: the former is poorly phrased, implying that it takes a full attack but then implying it does not prevent the character's normal full attack; the latter seems like a weaker version of Spring Attack.
There are a few new weapons and weapon equivalencies, different from the Oriental Adventures book's version. For example, where Oriental Adventures states that the jian is equivalent to a longsword, Jade & Steel gives its stats equivalent to a short sword except that it can slash or thrust. Finally, the book introduces Chinese rockets as a weapon.
The Adventure
(Warning: there are spoilers regarding the adventure in this section.)
The last half of the book is the adventure For Love or Money. The adventure is for d20 characters of 11th - 14th level. There are a variety of hooks provided, but it is generally assumed that the characters are wandering heroes during the warring states period. The adventure is primarily event driven, split into four "acts."
The first act depicts the PCs' arrival in the area. The PCs can pick up some facts surrounding the adventure, but eventually they will be invited to dinner with the lord of the local region, Lord Chiang. After some decent role-playing opportunities (and the chance for a cultural faux pas), Lord Chiang asks the PCs to perform a task for him. Recently, his daughter was traveling to wed a member of the Lim, a rival family. The wedding was set up to heal the longstanding rivalry, but his daughter was kidnaped by a group of bandits called the Black Tigers. Lord Chiang is relied upon by the merchants to protect them. He must continue to do so and cannot alarm them by letting them know that his own daughter disappeared in the very lands he was charged to secure. So he asks the PCs to help recover her.
The truth is that the whole situation is a set up. There are two spies within Lord Chiang's house, one of them one of his concubines. They work for the Lim. The spies were responsible for convincing Lord Chaing to set up the wedding, and introduced his headstrong daughter to the leader of the Black Tigers. The Lim hope that they can use this distraction to create an opening during the upcoming pearl festival that will allow them to issue a coup.
The second act has the PCs on the trail of the Black Tigers. Some Lim soldiers attack the PCs in the guise of Black Tiger bandits. After the imposters are dealt with, the PCs will also have to deal with a devil summoned by a Lim wizard. During this battle, Black Tiger (leader of the Black Tiger bandits) and Black Crane (an ally of his, a druid), who have been casing the battle, will join them in fighting the fiend.
Once the battle is over, the PCs will find themselves in an interesting roleplaying situation. The enemy they were sent against stands before them, but he will show that the Lim soldiers are imposters and not bandits. The players will have to decide what to do from there. The supposed enemy, however, also relates the news that Kim Nan (Chiang's daughter) is with him willingly, and if the players have not trounced or captured him, he is willing to show the PCs back to his camp to demonstrate that this is true.
In the third act, the PCs find their way back to Black Tiger's camp - either with Black Tiger or following his trail. There they will meet Kim Nan. The text provides for a variety of different possible paths at this point, but most likely when Kim Nan hears the news of the situation, she will become suspicious that something is up, and will probably be willing to accompany the PCs back to the Chiang compound.
When they arrive, they will find the Lim have indeed sprung their coup. They have a force inside the city and control the gates. A group of Chiang wardens are assembling a force to go in and assure their Lord's safety. It is up to the PC to get in and help expose the spies and resolve the situation. The adventure is tolerant to some of the paths the PCs may have taken to get to this point, but there is a good chance they will end up in a face-off with the Lim spies, and may or may not be able to save Lord Chiang.
Summary
The rules and background material seemed fairly good to me. The prestige classes were well put together and appropriate, and the feats were generally interesting and balanced. The addition of some more details to flesh it out would have been very nice. For example, character names, significant NPCs and factions in the setting, adventure seeds, and character roles all would have nicely enhanced the book.
I found the adventure very good. There were a few points that seemed a little contrived. For example, I fail to see how Kim Nan concluded something was up back at the Chiang city. Yet it was a nice little intrigue and showed a lot more robustness for differences in the flow of events than most event-based adventures do. I found this a very refreshing break from the site-based fare that is so common in the d20 universe.
My feelings can be summed up as such: nice stuff, give me more. Overall, I thought that the author did rather well in the background material, the rules material, and the adventure. The drawback is that the presentation was somewhat poor and the price was high for this size of a book. If you are running an Oriental Adventures campaign, it may be worth your while. The prestige classes fit well with an Asian-themed game, and the adventure and background material would work well if you are running a game in historical China or a fantasy analog of it.
-Alan D. Kohler
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